Smithsonian Gardens
Cultivating a New Identity
Challenge
Smithsonian Gardens—one of the Smithsonian Institution’s 21 museums—is one of the most visited public gardens in the world. Its 15 sites across Washington, DC, tell unique stories that extend the museum experience beyond the Institution’s traditional walls. Eighty2degrees was tasked with strategically building a new brand identity and messaging that reflects Smithsonian Gardens’ mission, vision, and stature: a living museum that engages, informs, and inspires audiences while providing places of beauty and respite for tens of millions of visitors every year.
Approach
After conducting in-depth discovery and brand analysis, we crafted an identity that captures Smithsonian Gardens at the intersection of inspiration, education, history, and leading-edge botany. The new logo embodies the garden’s role as a living museum, where visual beauty and botanical science coexist in a structured, modern mark. New, bolder messaging highlights the excitement, prestige, and approachability this "museum without walls” embodies. The larger visual identity creates new and exciting ways for audiences to interact with the garden. Layered illustrations, an engaging, flora-inspired color palette, nuanced typography, and rich photography enhance digital and print touchpoints across the museum’s 180 acres and 57,300 artifacts.
